The S&P 500 fell 6 points, or 0.4%, to 1,502. The Nasdaq was down 11 points, or 0.4%, to 3,142.

Most major sectors were off in the broader market, led lower by transportation, energy, capital goods and basic materials. The health-care and consumer non-cyclical sectors were the only gainers.

Volumes totaled 3.7 billion shares on the New York Stock Exchange and 2 billion shares on the Nasdaq. Decliners outpaced advancers by a ratio of 1.9-to-1 on the Big Board and 2.3-to-1 on the Nasdaq.

JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at TD Ameritrade, said many market observers were surprised at the rally at the market open because the headline gross domestic product number was so disappointing.

"I think there was just a little short squeeze there for a moment or two," he said. On the other hand, the market was also under some natural downward pressure, with the S&P 500 trading around 1,500 and the Dow approaching 14,000.

"Psychologically, they are big numbers," said Kinahan. At these levels, there is natural "resistance," which leads to selling pressure as traders start to take some profits and decide whether they want to reinvest money or sit on the sidelines to get a stronger signal on whether the market could break through those levels, Kinahan explained.

The Federal Reserve released its monetary policy announcement on Wednesday to little fanfare.

"The message was tamped down a bit, because although the chairman Ben Bernanke is trying to encourage transparency and open dialogue among the members, the last report went a little too far for his taste," Hugh Anderson, managing director at HighTower Las Vegas, said in an interview .

Facebook(FB) issued its fourth-quarter earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday as the social-networking company reported earnings of 17 cents a share on $1.59 billion in revenue. Analysts expected Facebook to post profit of 15 cents a share on revenue of $1.51 billion.